Download National Science Education Standards

National Science Education Standards
1996
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962&page=R1
Science as Inquiry Standards
In the vision presented by the Standards, inquiry is a step beyond ''science as a
process," in which students learn skills, such as observation, inference, and
experimentation. The new vision includes the "processes of science" and requires that
students combine processes and scientific knowledge as they use scientific reasoning
and critical thinking to develop their understanding of science. Engaging students in
inquiry helps students develop
•
•
•
•
•
Understanding of scientific concepts.
An appreciation of "how we know" what we know in science.
Understanding of the nature of science.
Skills necessary to become independent inquirers about the natural world.
The dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science.
Science as inquiry is basic to science education and a controlling principle in the ultimate
organization and selection of students' activities. The standards on inquiry highlight the
ability to conduct inquiry and develop understanding about scientific inquiry. Students at
all grade levels and in every domain of science should have the opportunity to use
scientific inquiry and develop the ability to think and act in ways associated with inquiry,
including asking questions, planning and conducting investigations, using appropriate tools
and techniques to gather data, thinking critically and logically about relationships
between evidence and explanations, constructing and analyzing alternative explanations,
and communicating scientific arguments. Table 6.1 shows the standards for inquiry. The
science as inquiry standards are described in terms of activiRegulation ties resulting in
student development of certain abilities and in terms of student understanding of
inquiry.
TABLE 6.1. SCIENCE AS INQUIRY STANDARDS
LEVELS K-4
Abilities necessary to do
scientific inquiry
Understanding about
scientific inquiry
LEVELS 5-8
Abilities necessary to do
scientific inquiry
Understanding about
scientific inquiry
LEVELS 9-12
Abilities necessary to do
scientific inquiry
Understanding about
scientific inquiry
Life Science (Content Standard C)
As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop
understanding of
•
•
•
•
•
Structure and function in living systems
Reproduction and heredity
Regulation and behavior
Populations and ecosystems
Diversity and adaptations of organisms
Developing Student Understanding
In the middle-school years, students should progress from studying life science from
the point of view of individual organisms to recognizing patterns in ecosystems (...) For
example, students should broaden their understanding from the way one species lives in
its environment to populations and communities of species and the ways they interact
with each other and with their environment. (...) Observations and investigations should
become increasingly quantitative, incorporating the use of computers and conceptual and
mathematical models. (...)
Students understand ecosystems and the interactions between organisms and
environments well enough by this stage to introduce ideas about nutrition and energy
flow, although some students might be confused by charts and flow diagrams. If asked
about common ecological concepts, such as community and competition between
organisms, teachers are likely to hear responses based on everyday experiences rather
than scientific explanations. Teachers should use the students' understanding as a basis
to develop the scientific understanding.
Understanding adaptation can be particularly troublesome at this level. Many students
think adaptation means that individuals change in major ways in response to
environmental changes (that is, if the environment changes, individual organisms
deliberately adapt).
REGULATION AND BEHAVIOR
•
Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or
environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination and
communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms.
Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part
from experience.
•
An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. How a
species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the
species' evolutionary history.
POPULATIONS AND ECOSYSTEMS
•
•
•
•
A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given
place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which
they interact compose an ecosystem.
Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an
ecosystem. Plants and some microorganisms are producers—they make their own
food. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating
other organisms. Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that
use waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the
relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy entering
ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through
photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.
The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources
available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of
temperatures, and soil composition. Given adequate biotic and abiotic resources
and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase at rapid
rates. Lack of resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit
the growth of populations in specific niches in the ecosystem.
DIVERSITY AND ADAPTATIONS OF ORGANISMS
•
•
•
Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today.
Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms
becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their
chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry.
Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through
gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique
characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of
naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes
in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive
success in a particular environment.
Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive
characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate
that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is
common; most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Content Standard
F)
As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understanding of
•
•
•
•
•
Personal health
Populations, resources, and environments
Natural hazards
Risks and benefits
Science and technology in society
POPULATIONS, RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTS
•
•
When an area becomes overpopulated, the environment will become degraded due
to the increased use of resources.
Causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary from region to
region and from country to country.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
•
Scientists and engineers work in many different settings, including colleges and
universities, businesses and industries, specific research institutes, and
government agencies.